Lake Forest grad wins baseball research top prize

From Linda Blaser at the Chicago Sun-Times on April 2, 2013, with mention of SABR member Wayne McDonnell Jr.:

Theo Epstein better watch out.

Twenty-one-year-old Hunter Gilbertson of Lake Forest, who’s hot on his tail to be the next president of the Chicago Cubs, just got one step closer to that dream job.

Gilbertson and his teammates from New York University’s Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management competed in the Diamond Dollars Case Competition from the Society for American Baseball Research and came home with the top prize in the undergraduate division.

Baseball operations professionals from the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers judged the contest and deemed Gilbertson’s team’s analytics and 20-minute justification for offering Mike Trout a $218 million 10-year deal the most convincing and most professional.

“Hunter not only gave an outstanding performance in his presentation, but he has the ability to handle questions from the judges with ease and elegance,” team advisor and clinical associate professor of sports management Wayne McDonnell said in a phone interview.